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Invitation by Sue Finch

She says I will be able to see
Perseids tonight in her armpits, 
just as I am worrying 
that I cannot read binary.

I assure myself I can Google it later

hoping that the instructions

will be simple.

I plan to have a notebook 

and pen ready.

I know that joke about

there being 10 kinds of people in the world:

those who understand binary

and those who don’t.

I tell her it would be great

to see the meteors up close, 

nuzzled right in.

They don’t make your neck ache

this way, she says,

and you will be able to hear 

the crackles of ancient fires

it is all deep in there.

I wonder if we will ever be 

sociable again after this.

How many people in the world 

are hankering to see

night skies in the armpits of lovers?


---

Sue Finch lives with her wife in North Wales. Her first published poem appeared in A New Manchester Alphabet in 2015 whilst studying for her MA with Manchester Metropolitan University. Her work has also appeared in The Interpreter’s House, Ink, Sweat and Tears, Poetry Bus Magazine and in Crossings Over, an anthology published by Chester University Press. Her first collection will be published in Autumn 2020 with Black Eyes Publishing UK. Twitter: @soopoftheday 

Comments

  1. KathA23 September 2020 at 11:39

    Gorgeous imagery and a powerful sense of occasion.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Susan23 September 2020 at 21:42

    In loved reading this over a mug of steaming hot chocolate with the rain steadily pouring outside. It made me smile and made me think. ‘I wonder if we will ever be sociable again after this.’ How powerful a sentence is this and it has gone through my head constantly today.
    Really great poem. I enjoyed reading it and the images it created in my mind.Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Susan23 September 2020 at 21:43

    In loved reading this over a mug of steaming hot chocolate with the rain steadily pouring outside. It made me smile and made me think. ‘I wonder if we will ever be sociable again after this.’ How powerful a sentence is this and it has gone through my head constantly today.
    Really great poem. I enjoyed reading it and the images it created in my mind.Thank you.

    ReplyDelete

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